Chapter Four: Is it that easy to trust someone with your life?

Fatigue and agitation had already taken over my saner side. My entire irritation and anger started boiling out.

“Why are you doing this?” I spoke agitated. “You had been following me since the day I met you. You are trying to give me gifts. Now you are standing here, requesting to drop me home yourself. Why are you being so generous towards me? I want to know what your intentions are, loud and clear.”

He simply stood there, facing me, composed and quiet. He just stared in my eyes. That was making me nervous, but I had to control my fear and get myself out of this mess.

“Why are you quiet now? Tell me what do you want? I barely know you and you too, don’t know me much. Why do you think I would take favors from you?” I continued yelling at him.

Still no response. I felt scared. He stepped closer and stared me with deep intensity.

“S-Stay w-where you are. Don’t come near me. I swear I’ll shout. W-What do you want from me?” I started stuttering nervously. My heart was pounding and I was breathing short swift breaths.

“You.” He said gravely.

A chill ran through my spine. Was it the cold breeze or his one monosyllabic word, that made me shiver badly.

“W-What are you talking?” I fought my tears. “I don’t understand anything.”

He smiled responsively and held my chin lightly with his forefinger and thumb, and whispered on my face, “I. want. You.” He spoke the words one by one, and continued, “I want to be with you. I love you.”

I shivered hearing those words. I was too confused to react. Why? How? Me? I didn’t know how to respond. I was so deeply perplexed that I couldn’t utter anything coherent. His gaze froze on mine that made me breathe heavily. All I could find the words to speak were, “no no no. There must be some misunderstanding.” I shook my head. “I’m married and have a child.”

“That does not matter to me.”  He whispered intensely.

Chapter Four: Does it feel creepy when you discover someone knows you more than yourself?

I found a cozy corner with a bulky sofa. I made myself comfortable and placed my cup on the wooden coffee table in the front and started flipping the pages of the book: ‘Pride and prejudice’, then ‘Emma’, then ‘Wuthering heights’. I couldn’t decide on one story. My concentration couldn’t centre itself on one title. Maybe I had less time to spare here and I didn’t want to engross myself so much that I lost the track of time and got too late for home. My hands kept stroking the crème pages. They kept flipping from right to left and then back fumbling under my fingers. It was so uneasily silent that the sound of the flipping leaflets was more than audible to my ears. I decided to look for some other book and moved my limbs to rise.

Suddenly a book slammed on the table in front of me. I looked up to see who was there, and my eyes met the set of beautiful deep gray eyes. I could never get used to this beautiful heavenly face that stood a few paces away from me. He smiled divinely and covered a couple of steps between us.

“Classics are not your type. You would love to read this book instead.” His gentle, melodious voice spoke to me.

I was too stunned to react. I kept staring at his beautiful face for a while, till I jerked myself back to the reality and closed my eyes to at least cut the connection I helplessly felt that drew me magnetically towards him. I took a deep breath to compose myself. He was the same man! I held myself from panicking or at least fainting, but that was creepy. What was he doing here? Was he following me? And what he meant by my choices?

“I’m totally surprised at your knowledge on my preferences. But sorry to disappoint you, I love classics.” I spoke bravely, keeping my eyes away from his face.

I knew if I looked at his face directly, I would end up stammering nervously. I didn’t know why but he made me nervous. His presence gave out a strange feeling in me, my body strangely responded to each of his gestures as if he controlled my mind. My heart started racing like a wild horse and I noisily breathed that embarrassed me more. I thought he must be amused at my childishness.

“Mm, I see. But I’m confident you would love this book. Classics bore you. Self improvement manuals bore you more.” He said in certain but a bemused tone.

“How come you are so confident about it?” I said a little irritated.

“Just read the title first and then you are free to debate.” I could hear the tone of confidence in his soft, whispering voice.

I sighed and looked down at the table, where the other book was kept. It was a medium sized, thick book, antique looking with a brown colored cover. Its title was written in bold golden ornamented alphabets, and it read:

            ‘THE STRANGE SUPERNATURAL LOVE STORIES.’

I opened my mouth in astonishment. I had read many books similar to this, when I was young. Such stories always fascinated me to the core. Nature’s such strange and unfolded mysteries when fell for the common species, what consequences they bore and how did the two worlds meet, rose my curiosity whenever I got my eyes on it. I somehow managed to hide my interest in the book. This guy could not be so accurate in this! Even Alec could have never guessed my preferences so perfectly.

“Where did you find this? It looks creepy. I don’t want to end up having nightmares when I sleep.” I tried to conceal my interest. Good attempt. That was smart enough. I should certainly not give him any clue about me. He stepped closer and covered the remaining distance between us and whispered.

“I can easily take care of that.” He smiled crookedly. The deep dents on his cheek grew prominent, taking my breath away. Oh I wished so much to touch those deep dimples on his smooth glowing skin. His face was just a few inches away from mine and I could see his flawless features much precisely.